Lyons International

One of the most essential issues you need to plan whenever you travel abroad, is how you’ll manage to communicate with your beloved ones. Nowadays, technological advances provide us a wide range of options, which might make it way more difficult to choose.

However, if you analyze the pros and cons of each choice, it will be easier to find the solution that best fits to your needs.

But, what are the different alternatives?

Maybe you’re thinking on taking your own phone. It sounds simple, you don’t have to buy anything extra, and everyone knows your number. But, do you really want anyone to know where to find you when you’re abroad? Not only you won’t be able to avoid work calls on a vacation, but you’ll also have to pay for those incoming calls! Besides, not all the cell phones work in other countries. It’s estimated that more than 80% of the equipments don’t. So, if you want to travel with your own cell phone, you should first ask your company whether it provides an international service or not.

Then we have the classical, old- fashioned way: calling from the hotel or public phones. The only advantage is that you don’t have to invest in anything before leaving home. But you depend on a specific space to talk, and if anyone needs to contact you urgently, it will be impossible. In addition, if you call from the hotel, you can’t control how much it’ll finally cost.

What about Internet? The idea of free calls might be inviting, but there are many difficulties in using this system. First of all, you depend on finding a computer with the right equipment: headphones, microphone, a special software –the most recommended is Skype- and the other person must have all of this requirements too. You also need to prearrange a time to call – and again, as when using the hotel’s phone, you can’t be reached in case of an urgency. An extra difficultness is that the line quality might be poor, depending on the kind of Internet connection the place you find has.

Buying a local SIM card is a very popular choice. A SIM card is a tiny, removable electronic chip that’s placed inside your phone. You can purchase a local SIM card from the country you’re traveling to, paying for credit in advance. When you run out of credit, you’ll have to recharge it, otherwise, your line will be cut-off. If you want to use local SIM cards, you’ll need to buy a SIM- free international phone, one that isn’t “locked” to the SIM card of one carrier. So, if your own cell phone is locked, this option might be too expensive and complicated.

A different alternative could be renting a phone. The only disadvantage is that, is you’re going to make a long trip, it could cost the same or even more than buying a new phone. But if you don’t want to attach yourself to long-term contracts, and you’re traveling for a short period, renting a mobile could be the choice for you. One of the most important advantages is that your contacts can know your telephone number before you leave… but as this is a new number, you won’t receive undesired calls. Besides from being reachable at all times, you don’t have to pay for incoming calls, and you can be available for people in the same country, without having to pay a local call as if it was an international call. And the most important point: costs are prepaid and are the same as a local, which is cheaper than using phone boxes or hotel phones.

There’s always an option that best adapts to your needs. Analyze the alternatives according to the kind of trip you’re about to make… don’t underestimate this issue (that might seem unimportant compared to deciding about accommodation or transport) choose carefully, and you’ll have no problems or disgusting surprises.

Ricardo Spivack
Cell phone rental services

http://www.altelphonerental.com